


No guarantees in tomorrow

by greendragon19



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Missing Scene, fluff sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greendragon19/pseuds/greendragon19
Summary: After the events at Merrick's lab Joe helps Nicky to clean up. Joe is upset and Nicky understands.Sorry i'm  bad at descriptions.That missing scene everyone has their own version of, well this is mine hope you enjoy.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 11
Kudos: 215





	No guarantees in tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> I am obsessed with the Old Guard. I love sci fi, action sci fi especially but we need more movies like this with more BAMF queer and female characters!!!! Haven't had much time for writing lately but i had to do something for these two. Hopefully I will be able to write more for them and the rest of the Old Guard at some point but probably won't be for a while.  
> Not beta read but hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. Enjoy xx

The safe house was located several miles outside of London. A small cottage practically in the middle of nowhere. It was the type of place you would never know was there, unless you already knew where it was, which made it a perfect hiding place for the team over the years.  
Nicky stood shirtless over the sink in the kitchen washing the blood from himself as best he could with the few basic supplies they had picked up at a petrol station just before they got there. The cottage hadn't been refurbished in many years, the decor in the kitchen would now be classed as vintage and the wallpaper was beginning to peel. The water from the old pipes was barely lukewarm but at least it was running, which suited the teams purposes for tonight anyway, they only needed somewhere to clean up and rest after the events at Merrick's lab.  
Nicky had just finished cleaning the last of the blood from his neck when he felt a presence in the doorway behind him. 

He turned the tap off. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was, after so many years together Nicky could recognise the sound of Yusuf's breath with ease, he could pick out the other man's gaze on him in a crowded room. He turned anyway, acutely aware of the mess on the back of his head, smirking gently at Joe leaning against the door frame. Joe's arms crossed over his chest, he relaxed slightly as Nicky did, they always felt calmer when the two of them were together.  
Joe smiled back but Nicky could tell that it was just for show,that everything that had happened over the last few days had shaken Joe. Nicky also knew not to push the subject when Joe was ready to talk he would.  
“You should have got first dibs on the shower,” Joe said gently, smiling softly from the doorway. Nicky's hand absently reached to the back of his head, his hair still matted with blood and bone. It had become a sort of unspoken rule over the years, if the safe house only had one shower whoever had the most gruesome injuries got to go first.  
Nicky shrugged, “I let Nile use it, she's not as used to being covered in her own blood as the rest of us,” He meant for the comment to be light in the somewhat morbid way they were used to but he could see it hit something painful inside Joe.  
“Help me?” Nicky asked gently. He didn't need to clarify with what, Joe had already moved from the door frame and walked the few short steps through the small kitchen to Nicky.  
“Always,” he whispered, placing his hand on Nicky's shoulder and stroking his thumb down the back of his neck. It still sent shivers down Nicky's spine even after almost a millennia together.

He turned around facing the sink and turning the tap back on, leaning down and placing his head under the stream of water. He could feel Joe's hands working their way through his matted hair and watched as the water ran down the drain turning from clear to red. Joe's hands shook slightly at what Nicky could only assume was the exit wound from the bullet and where the worst of the gore was. From the corner of his eye he could see Joe picking up a bar of soap from beside the sink. He could feel him start to massage bubbles into his head on occasion his hands would begin to shake again but would stop quickly after. Moments after these occasions Nicky would see a piece of bone or even brain wash down the drain.  
Injuries like this were always harder on the other person. As far as ways to die go and Nicky had experienced many ways, getting shot in the head wasn't so bad. At least it was quick. Sure waking back up from it could take it's time and the headache that came from his skull knitting itself back together was far from fun but nothing that he couldn't ignore during the heat of battle. But the idea of Joe lying there, his dark eyes dulled, his brains splattered around him hunted Nicky, the idea that it could have just as easily been Joe and not him. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind focusing on the feeling of Joe's hands stroking through his hair as the water began to run clear again.  
“There,” Joe said removing his hand from Nicky's hair and drying them on the towel Nicky had taken from the bathroom before he had started to clean up, “all done,”

Nicky stood up stretching his back out as he did, it ached slightly from leaning over. He shook his head a few times to get rid of the worst of the water.  
“Hey, watch it,” Joe chided, laughing as he did, he was standing right next to Nicky and had received a decent splattering of water. He was smiling though, a light sort of smile, Nicky could still see the pain and anxiety in Joe's eyes but it didn't make the smile any less genuine and Nicky would die a thousand times over for that smile.

He reached out his hand to Joe's face using his thumb to wipe away one of the droplets of water and looked down at Joe's blood stained t-shirt.  
“Ok,” he said with a smirk, “your turn,”  
Joe sighed, rolling his eyes a little. “I will just wait till the showers free,”  
Nicky ran his hand up through Joe's hair, “it's for purely selfish reasons I promise,” to anyone else it might seem like Joe didn't react at all but they had been together so long that they could practically hold entire conversations in total silence. So in the same way that he could tell that Joe needed him, needed the connection, Nicky could also see that Joe wanted him to keep talking, and wanted to be persuaded.  
“See I'm very tired and would really like to go to bed soon but I know that you will let Andy use the shower ahead of you and well we both know that she can take hours, even when the water is cold and the pressure is terrible,” Nicky had dropped his hands down around the back of Joe's neck leaning on him slightly. “Which means when you do finally end up making it to bed you are just going to wake me up,” Nicky finished lazily.  
Joe shook his head smirking back at Nicky, “guess I don't have much choice then,”  
Nicky shrugged pleased that he had won, he knew that Joe needed to feel him there, right in front of him and part of Joe must have known that or he wouldn't have relented so easily.

Nicky pulled a bar stool over to the sink, from by the counter. Joe sat down and allowed Nicky to pull his t-shirt off of him. Nicky dropped it on the floor where he had abandoned his own, they would be thrown away, both covered in bullet holes and blood stains.  
He carefully wiped away the blood from Joe's torso with a cloth. Leaving no traces of bullet wounds or injuries from needles and scalpels, the only remaining evidence that he had been hurt at all washed down the drain. They didn't speak but Nicky could feel Joe watching him with every movement. Only when Nicky was almost done, gently wiping away the last traces of blood from Joe's neck did he speak.  
“It never gets any easier,” Joe muttered, “seeing you like that,”  
Nicky dropped the cloth into the sink stroking both his hands through the thick curls of Nicky’s hair.  
“Part of me always thinks that maybe this time…” Joe trailed off unable to finish his sentence, it hurt too much to think about. “And then Andy, it made it that much worse,”  
“I know,” Joe replied in understanding, there was nothing quite like the pain of seeing the love of your life's eyes cold and blank, nothing like the feeling of waiting for them to come back, praying that this wasn't the time that they didn't. And Joe was right what was happening to Andy made those fears so much harder to ignore. He ran his hands down Joe's arms pulling the other man to his feet once he reached his hands. “But i'm right here,” he said, placing Joe's hand over his heart allowing Joe to feel it beating. Joe sighed, closing his eyes for a second and resting his forehead against Nicky's.

After a moment Nicky sighed a little, letting out a shaking breath, “I feel it too you know,” he said gently, “every time,”  
He traced his left hand down the side of Joe's face and beard, resting them at the base of his neck. He looked deep into the rich brown of Joe’s eyes, his voice was little more than a whisper, they stood so close that anything more would have been unnecessary. Speaking softly in a dialect of Italian that very few people would recognise these days. It was one of the first languages that they spoke together. Joe always had a way with words and picked up Nicky's native tongue much faster than Nicky picked up his.  
“But then I remember that you and I are tied together by something so much bigger than anything,” He shook his head a little, absently stroking his thumb against Joe's collar bone. “There were no new immortals for hundreds of years before us and no new ones for hundreds of years after,” he sighed, slightly smiling as he traced his left hand down Joe's bare skin and placing it over his heart, “but for some reason there was the two of us in the same time and in the same place, destiny brought us together and I do not believe that destiny would be so cruel as take us separately,”  
Joe was silent for a minute after Nicky stopped talking, It made him nervous he had never been the one that was good at talking. But then Joe cupped the sides of Nickys face with his hand and smiled, it was small and soft and made Nicky melt.  
“And you say I'm a romantic,” he teased. Closing the minimal space between them and kissing Nicky gently but passionately. Joe did everything passionately whether it was loving or hating or fighting or creating art, Nicky had never met anyone as passionate about everything as Joe was.  
Nicky pulled away almost giddily with a grin. “come on, it's late we should go to bed,”

Nile was already asleep, curled up on a makeshift camp bed on the other side of the room. The safe house had two rooms, they had all reluctantly agreed to let Andy have the one to herself, she usually did when they stayed here anyway. Booker was presumably passed out on the couch. Joe lay down on the bed, pulling Nicky down by the hand as he did, Nicky was only too happy to comply. He lay with Joe flush against his back like always. A silent gesture on NIcky's part or maybe more of a promise, that he was always between Joe and danger between Joe and the door.  
Joe wrapped his arm around Nicky nuzzling his face into the back of Nicky’s neck, exhaling lightly as he did. Nicky stoked his fingers gently over Joe's hand and arm that was wrapped around him.  
His eyelids felt heavy, it had been a very long couple of days but he would not succumb to sleep. Instead he forced himself to stay awake waiting and listening for the familiar sound of Joe's breath as he slept, his grip around Nicky would loosen slightly and only then, once Nicky was sure Joe was asleep would he finally allow himself too as well. Because when they woke tomorrow that fear would still be there, that tiny voice in the back of their minds, that no amount of faith would silence. Asking what if one of them goes before the other. There were no guarantees in tomorrow but for now though he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Yusuf sleeping.


End file.
